![]() Bears are unique amongst carnivores in being largely adapted to an omnivorous diet, subsisting upon wild berries and tree-nuts, as well as on insects, roots, tubers, rodents, young birds or other vertebrates which they can catch. Bears have an acutely developed sense of smell but their eyesight and hearing are relatively poor. Mating among the bears takes place in the summer and the young are bore early in the winter in most species while the mother hibernates in a cave or den. Sloth Bear The most popular Indian bear is the Sloth Bear. The Sloth Bear is found in the plains or lowlands of India. Avoiding the Himalaya Mountains, they are nevertheless forest animals, preferring broken rocky hills clad with dry deciduous jungle, and are absent from the open savanna country. The Sloth Bear has long coarse hair all over its body with a creamy white irregular "V" pattern on its chest. Its huge claws are ivory white in contrast to the black claws of the Himalayan Black Bear. Their mouth and lips are peculiarly modified to enable the animal to feed on insect larvae by suction. Termites form a very significant part of this particular bear's diet. Their nostrils can actually be closed at will and their lips are very mobile and protractible, with a hollowed palate and absence of the inner pair of upper incisors creates a tunnel effect when the animal sucks or blows. This method is used for cleaning out a shattered termite nest and sucking up the insects from their galleries. Sloth Bears do not hibernate in winter, and are believed to form stable or lasting pair-bonds, unlike other bear species. Asiatic or Himalayan Black Bear ![]() Holarctic Brown Bear In the inner mountain ranges and higher alpine slopes of the Himalaya above the tree-line are found a smaller paler subspecies of the Holarctic Brown Bear, which includes the North American Grizzly and the European and Russian Brown bears. The Himalayan subspecies lives largely upon grass and herbs during summer and feeds on rowan berries and wild currants and during autumn they feed on starchy roots of wild celery. ![]() Malayan Sun Bear The Malayan Sun Bears are widespread in the southeastern tropical rain-forest and comes from Manipur, Mizo Hills and areas lying south of the Brahmaputra River in Assam. These particular types of bear sleeps by day in a rough nest built high up in trees and lives on termites, fruits and birds. (Last Updated on : 16-04-2015) |
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